Earlier this week, I noticed the news reports raising concerns that the price of oil was climbing up above $70 a barrel following the takedown of Iranian terror leader Qassem Soleimani.

When I heard $70 a barrel, I thought- well that's interesting. I mean, ten years ago the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted that come 2020 oil prices would be hovering around $100 a barrel. Here we are in the midst of a crisis with Iran in 2020 and oil prices are still far lower than even the EIA predicted.

As Fox News Radio reported:

Oil prices rose more than three percent since Soleimani’s death. At least a quarter of the 100 million barrels or so of global oil production is likely vulnerable to disruption. The two biggest producers in the region—Saudi Arabia and Iraq—pump about 15 million barrels a day of oil. Still, some analysts say that they expect there won’t be significant disruption of oil, though the State Department has put oil workers in Saudi Arabia on alert of any attacks.

Thanks to our friends at Fox News radio, I was able to speak with Richard Soultanian, the President of the international energy consulting group NUS Consulting, on Tuesday morning. What stood out to both of us is how little of an impact this crisis with Iran (at least for now) is having on the oil markets. And it's all thanks to domestic energy production in the US that started with the Bakken boom in North Dakota and Montana due to advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

So, if you get a chance, say thanks to a roughneck or petroleum engineer who has helped make America more energy independent so we don't have to be so reliant on foreign oil.

 

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